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I wanted to share these Free Resources for Teachers & Schools Shifting Online. With so many schools closing right now, many districts are moving their in-person instruction to online instruction.  Finding high-quality classroom resources is important in order to help teachers continue their classroom activities online.

Classroom teachers everywhere are learning how to teach their class online, and I hope that this list of free teaching resources is helpful. Thanks to many generous companies, there are now a lot of free options for tools and resources to make online learning as useful, understandable, functional, and valuable as possible.

I’ve also created a List for Students: Educational Websites, Subscriptions & Apps that are free for students during school closures. 

Free Resources for Teachers

Free Resources for Teachers & Schools Shifting to Online Schooling

Students and teachers are being given access to many companies’ online platforms for free right now, and we’ve put together a list of our favorite ones.   These teacher resources are for preschool teachers, elementary school teachers, middle & high school teachers, as well as teachers’ assistants.  We have also found that many of these websites offer lessons and resources in a wide range of subjects such as social studies, language arts, math, science, and more.

  • Pinna – An audio-first platform with podcasts, audiobooks, and music, offers a six-month free trial for teachers, who can get started with an email address—no credit card needed.
  • Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Carmen Sandiego – Find free lessons, posters, reading aloud activities, etc. for subjects & growth mindset
  • Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Math at Work– Videos and Lesson Plans
  • Kindergarten Sight Words Printable Sheet – Printable list of Kindergarten Sight Word List & tips on how to teach them.
  • Biology Simulations Biology Simulations helps students to learn about biology and practice data analysis skills.
  • ICivicseducational online games & lesson plans to encourage students to become active citizens.
  • Ideas Roadshow– Lessons in all subjects. (Learn how to use their temporarily free resources with their free webinar)
  • IDE Corp. – activities, worksheets & lessons for all subjects
  • InThinking  Help students to prepare effectively for exams.
  • Cool Math – Math Lessons
  • Curriculum Associates – Printable at-home Activity Packets for Math & Reading Grades K-8
  • Country Reports –  Teaching them about every country (culture, food, location & more) with articles & more
  • Inq-ITS Free virtual labs (must sign in by April 1, 2020)
  • Pronto: connects people via chat and video, so they can learn faster, work smarter, and communicate seamlessly
  • Google for Edu – Tools to give teachers the freedom to spend more time personalizing the learning experience, and less time managing it.
  • Classroom Cereal – Free teacher-created, printable short stories that double as grammar exercises. Enjoy the story and find the errors.
  • Buncee Build media-rich lessons, reports, newsletters, presentations and so much more
  • Pear Deck (free semester!) Lets students interact with teacher presentations from any device.  (Google Slides, PDFs…)
  • Kamian online document annotation and markup tool to highlight, underline, and strikethrough text.
  • Parlay Ideas Students read prompt & then submit a response to the discussion area. Peers join in on the discussion.
  • EdPuzzle– Video Platform that collects data as students watch and interact with the video
  • Wakelet– Teachers can save articles, videos, images, Tweets and more in one place to share with students.
  • Dreambox– Award-winning K-8 online math program that looks at how a student is solving problems to adjust accordingly and build a unique learning path for them.  90 days free if you sign up by April 30.
  • TwinklCreate lesson plans, schemes of work, assessment, interactive activities, games, resource packs, & PowerPoints so students can practice the skills they have been learning in school (ex: multiplication, phonics & more)
  • Hapara Enables teachers to organize their students and their assignments, track their activity and progress and dynamically personalize instruction across different metrics.
  • Listenwise  Collection of podcasts & public radio stories.  Build student listening skills. (English, SS, Science, ESL)
  • MobyMax provides K-8 teachers with content, assessments, and activities for all topics in 27 subjects
  • We Video  online video editor designed to make it easy to capture, create, view and share movies
  • GoGuardian.com for Teachers:  help teachers manage Chromebook usage in their classrooms and monitor student activity on the device. The goal of the tool is to help keep students on-task and away from inappropriate content.
  • BombBomb – Video Email for teachers – so you can communicate assignments, lessons, and feedback via video on email. 
  • Education Learning monitor students, comment on their progress and reassign tasks based upon their understanding.  Includes a library of curriculum-aligned lessons and assessments.
  • Slido Education  Web-based interactive polling and Q&A platform. Students access teacher-created polls via a simple join code, and teachers activate polls one at a time for student response.
  • Breakout Edu –  Games, activities & more! Students work together to find and solve clues around the room to open each of the locks. As soon as students see the locked box, they are immediately driven by the challenge to get it open.  (Available for all subjects)
  • Microsoft Education provides an online classroom so students and teachers can find new ways to continue to focus on learning.  It brings together virtual face-to-face connections, assignments, files & conversations into a single place.
  • NearPod  A teacher can create presentations that can contain Quiz’s, Polls, Videos, Images, Drawing-Boards, Web Content and so on. They can also access over 7K k-12 standards based & standards-aligned lessons.
  • Boddle Math – Give assignments & assign games.  Then watch through live monitoring to see which students are online when they are online, and what they are working on, plus how long they are on each problem & how well they do.   (If common core state standards are confusing students, many of these games are helpful to engage students and help them understand.)
  • Zoom –  This is used mostly for video conferencing.  You can record a meeting with no participants & record it, then send it out… or you can have a group discussion with your students. Everyone can join in, either via video or the chat option.
  • Loom: (my favorite) You can narrate a video recording of your computer screen (with or without your face in the video, too). Once you’ve created your video, it gives you a URL that you can share.  You can even password protect the video.
  • Beed.World education technology company that specializes in experiential learning, which is learning through the process of real-world experience and reflection.
  • Brainbot Delivers workflow training and training reinforcement through Microsoft Teams, Slack, Facebook, or email.
  • Bitescis – Simulations and virtual labs for biology topics including evolution, ecology, and cellular energetics.
  • EdmodoAs educators, you can send messages, share class materials, and make learning accessible anywhere.
  • Flipgrid Educators create grids, which are the meeting place for your class, and then discuss the topics you have uploaded.  Your students can share their ideas, stories, and work by recording short videos based on the assigned topics and share them within the app.
  • G Suite: G Suite for Education allows educators to facilitate learning, keep track of tasks, and create opportunities for critical thinking.
  • Hāpara: Your students see what you see.  You can monitor the webpages that your students have open during the session.
  • Edpuzzle: Edpuzzle is a platform that allows you to take any video and make it interactive!  You can track what they watch.  Use videos from YouTube, Khan Academy & more.  Fill out this form to get it for free.
  • Explain Everything: Virtual tools can be utilized for online scenarios by helping you create explanation videos.
  • Nearpod: Create interactive lessons in minutes, add in virtual field trips, create quizzes and polls, and even use matching pairs activities.
  • Screencastify Blend learning by adding the Google Chrome Add-on to recording full or partial lessons, recording assignment solutions & explanations, and provide verbal student feedback.
  • TechSmithFREE TechSmith Snagit (screen capture & recording tool) & TechSmith Video Review (online video discussion)
  • Mangahigh Math: Assign math lessons and assess students’ performance online.
  • ProdigyProdigy is an engaging, curriculum-aligned math platform for students and teachers from 1st – 8th grade.
  • 2Simple – Purple Mash:  Spelling & grammar games, Math tools, writing templates & more.
  • ABC mouse (Age of Learning)  For children Pre-k-2nd grade.  Game & activities to teach all subject areas
  • Adventure Academy Elementary and middle-school aged children with thousands of learning activities
  • ReadingIQ: Digital library and literacy platform for children 12 and under.  Designed by reading experts to improve literacy skills
  • Shmoop – Over 10,000 educational videos, 400 digital learning courses, personalized test prep, and thousands of study guides.  (High School & Middle School)  Free until May 31, 2020.  Email support@shmoop.com to get started.
  • Covid19 Educational Resources App – an app for teachers by teachers where they can share ideas.   It can be used for professional development ideas, conversations about the national council of teachers, teaching tolerance, sharing lesson plans, sharing websites, ideas for the best tools & online teaching apps, etc…
  • Zearn – Kids learn the same math concepts twice: once with their teacher & once independently in self-paced digital lessons

Free Subscriptions for Teachers (2)
I hope that this helped!

LIST OF FREE SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR STUDENTS ↓ 

Hi there!

I’m Becky, a former elementary school teacher turned certified child development therapist and blogger. I work at home with my husband and together we are raising (and partially homeschooling) our four children in the Carolinas. I love diet coke, ice cream, and spending time with my family.

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1 Comment

  1. THANK YOU! How thoughtful to put this extensive list together.
    You’re the best!